Assange’s wife appeals to US president for clemency

The wife of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is petitioning the British government's decision to extradite him to the United States, on Monday appealed for clemency from the US president.

The Australian publisher is the object of a US extradition request to face trial for divulging US military secrets about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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"(President Joe) Biden could end this anytime. It's not in the administration's interests for Julian to be tried during an election period," said Stella Assange while speaking to the Geneva Press Club.

"The UK is... giving off the signals that it is kind of accelerating and wants Julian extradited. So Julian could very well be extradited by the end of the summer," she said. "The Biden administration would have to deal with that and I don't think that's in their interest."

Assange, 52, is being prosecuted in the United States for having published some 700,000 confidential documents related to US military and diplomatic activities, starting in 2010.

He could face decades in prison, and his supporters portray him as a martyr for press freedom.